Why are arcade PCB's so huge?

[Zaxxon]

When I look at old arcade boards I notice how large they are and how many more components there are than the home systems. A CV PCB is less than 1/4 the size of a lot of these arcade boards of the same era. Some of those arcade games used 2-3 boards like that yet the games hardware wasn't that much more advanced than what the CV or the 5200 are capable of. Look at Frogger or DK on the CV versus the arcade then look at their boards. Why did the arcade boards need to have all those extra components and be huge in size? It seems so wasteful.

[Happy_Dude]

A arcade board not only has the game (over multiple Roms due to there
being more code than a home console) but also the hardware to run the game.
Look inside a Arcade cabinet someday, there not exactly pressed for space ;)

Modern arcade boards are also big due to the Jamma standard in place since '86.

[CrazyImpmon]

Probably because with lots of space in the arcade cab and a big budget (ie not keeping it under $200), game developer don't take their time for rfficient design, they want the most powerful feature they can cram in. Back then it was easier to use loads of logic chips to do all the work. Witht he home console, one has to keep the total cost and space under consideration. No one will buy a $2,000 CV system even if it's really comparable to arcade of the same era.

Today arcade uses hard drive and PLC to do most of the support work. But they are still fairly huge compared to home consoles.